'Bold goals' required to propel Rockford to a best-of city

ROCKFORD — Business and civic leaders have been working for months to drum up support for a massive campaign to fix what ails Rockford.

The initiative, tentatively dubbed Rock River Regional Transformation, aims to generate broad input and buy-in for a social and economic transformation of the region.

The group has no fixed solutions in mind, but one goal is clear: Turn Rockford and the surrounding region into one of the top 25 most desirable places to live and work in the U.S. by 2025.

With high rates of crime, poverty and unemployment and a notorious property-tax burden, Rockford consistently ranks low in national lists of best places to live. Forbes said last year that Rockford was third on its list of America's Most Miserable Cities; Detroit and Flint, Mich., were No. 1 and 2, respectively.

The effort is led by Tom Gendron, chairman of Woodward Inc., who is among those to have pledged more than $3 million to develop a vision for the region — with input from hundreds of people — and to hire a staff to keep the project on track.

Other pledges of support have come from Rob Funderburg, chairman of Alpine Bank; Sunil Puri, president/CEO of development company First Rockford Group; David Rydell, chairman of Bergstrom, a climate controls manufacturer; Doug Perks, CEO of Eclipse Inc., a maker of industrial burners and combustion systems; and John Anderson, CEO of Anderson Enterprises and founder of Anderson Japanese Gardens.

Organizers have met with government, business and nonprofit leaders. One aim is to align their efforts. And they plan to knock on church doors to ask people from all walks of life how to lift Rockford's proverbial boat for everyone.

They have no preordained any solutions. The idea is to generate community-based solutions to community challenges.

Paul Logli, CEO of the United Way of the Rock River Valley, said the effort is a "chance to have a common agenda for our community." He has been asked to serve on the steering committee.

"It's a tremendous asset to the community that leading business people are investing substantial resources for the process for something we have never done before," Logli said after a recent meeting attended by 30 local leaders. "We need bold goals."

Specific goals will follow creation of a vision. Plans call for a summit in November with 100 to 150 community representatives. There, the case for change will be made and next steps outlined. Community work sessions could occur in January or February. The vision could be revealed in late March or early April.

The money that's been raised will be used to administer work associated with developing and implementing a plan, said Mike Schablaske, a former Woodward executive who has been involved in laying the groundwork for the project. Some plans could be put in place within months; others could take years.

Gendron's interest in helping Rockford become a markedly better place is driven by business and family concerns.

He leads Woodward, a manufacturer with 7,000 employees worldwide, including 1,400 in Loves Park and Rockton. Woodward is building a $300 million factory in Loves Park to manufacture aircraft fuel systems. The company plans to double its local workforce within 10 years.

"We will bring people in, but I have a high level of concern that we will be able to run that facility long term," he said, alluding to the importance of retaining a high-quality workforce.

Gendron lives in Colorado — Woodward's headquarters moved to Fort Collins from Loves Park less than a decade ago — but 43 family members live in the Rockford area.

A spot in the top 25 of the best-places lists gives Rockford a target at which to aim.

"We can look at what a 'top 25' looks like," Gendron said. "This is what the economic to social to quality-of-life issues look like."

Regional Transformation organizers are acutely aware that success depends on engaging deeply with disadvantaged neighborhoods. That's one reason they consider outreach to faith communities so important.

Regional Transformation must empower the disadvantaged, said the Rev. Bob Hillenbrand, retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church, which federated last year with Second Congregational United Church of Christ.

"The very wealthy ignoring the working poor. That is a lot of what is going on in this city. And yet these voices are among those that need to be heard," he said. The aim should be for grassroots groups to "have enough clout to say, 'You really cannot ignore us now'."

Gendron said Regional Transformation must "get rid of east-west" divisions in the city. "We need to get a new regional look, a new way of looking at things. ... We need to break down barriers, break down distrust."